Re: What is the difference between ftp encryption types SSL, TLS, SFTP and SSH ?

On Sunday 17 December 2006 13:00, Marcus Mender stood up and addressed the
masses in /comp.os.linux.misc/ as follows...:

I have seen a couple of different encryption types for ftp connections:

TLS
SSL
SFTP
SSH

Ok, provided an ftp server offers all these types: which type should I
choose to setup the ftp server or to select from the ftp clients view ?

I'm not an expert on encryption, but all of the aforementioned are
variations to the Secure Sockets Layer technology.

TLS is a newer version of SSL - it is more secure. /ssh/ is the SSL/TLS
version of /telnet./ It offers you a remote login to another machine, but
negotiates an encryption before the login occurs, so that password sniffers
would not be any good in trying to obtain a password, whereas /telnet/
sends everything over the network "as is".

/sftp/ is not to be confused with /ftps./ /sftp/ is the built-in FTP server
(or client) of the OpenSSL package. Regular FTP clients don't use this.

Is the security for all these types similar and the difference refers only
different protocols?

Hmm... /ssh/ and /sftp/ are different tools. /SSL/ is the security
technology that contains both /ssh/ and /sftp,/ but it's already becoming
outdated in favor of TLS, which is more secure. Does that answer your
question properly?

What are the pros and cons ?

That question is meaningless, I'm afraid. You seem to be inquiring about a
secure FTP server. A lot of the security of an FTP server depends on how
it is set up - does it allow anonymous logins or not, etc.

You can have /ftps,/ which is similar to /https./ /sftp/ is something else
and works via the SSH server. For my own needs, I would prefer /sftp/
since plain FTP is by nature insecure and very exploitable.

--
With kind regards,

*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
.

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